99 Luftballons
|1984 }} | format = | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = Neue Deutsche Welle | length = 3:53 | label = Epic | writer = |Carlo Karges |Kevin McAlea }} | producer = | prev_title = Nur geträumt | prev_year = 1982 | next_title = Leuchtturm | next_year = 1983 | misc = }} }} "99 Luftballons" ( , "99 red balloons") is a song by the German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons", with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also released on the album 99 Luftballons in 1984 after widespread success of the original in Europe and Japan. The English version is not a direct translation of the German original and contains somewhat different lyrics. Lyrics While at a June 1982 concert by the Rolling Stones in West Berlin, Nena's guitarist Carlo Karges noticed that balloons were being released. As he watched them move toward the horizon, he noticed them shifting and changing shapes, where they looked like strange spacecraft (referred to in the German lyrics as a "UFO"). He thought about what might happen if they floated over the Berlin Wall to the Soviet sector.Rolling Stone, 15 March 1984 Also cited by the band was a newspaper article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal about five local high school students who in 1973 played a prank to simulate a UFO by launching 99 (one was lost from the original 100) aluminized Mylar balloons attached with ribbons to a traffic flare. The red flame from the flare reflected by the balloons gave the appearance of a large pulsating red object floating over Red Rock Canyon outside the Las Vegas valley. A direct translation of the title is sometimes given as "Ninety-Nine Air Balloons", but the song became known in English as "Ninety-Nine Red Balloons". The title "99 Red Balloons" almost scans correctly with the syllables falling in the right places within the rhythm of the first line of lyrics: "red" partially replacing a flourish of the singer before "Luft". Neunundneunzig (99) has one syllable more than "ninety-nine", so the last syllable and "Luft" are blended in the English translation and become "red". The lyrics of the original German version tell a story: 99 balloons are mistaken for UFOs, causing a General to send pilots to investigate. Finding nothing but children's balloons, the pilots decide to put on a show and shoot them down. The display of force worries the nations along the borders and the Defence ministers on each side bang the drums of conflict to grab power for themselves. In the end, a 99-year war results from the otherwise harmless flight of balloons, causing devastation on all sides without a victor. At the end, the singer walks through the devastated ruins and lets loose a balloon, watching it fly away. English version and other re-recordings The English version retains the spirit of the original narrative, but many of the lyrics are translated poetically rather than directly translated: red helium balloons are casually released by the civilian singer (/narrator) with her unnamed friend into the sky and are registered as missiles by a faulty early warning system; the balloons are mistaken for military aircraft which results in panic and eventually nuclear war. From the outset Nena and other members of the band expressed disapproval for the English version of the song, "99 Red Balloons". In March 1984, the band's keyboardist and song co-writer Uwe Fahrenkrog Petersen said, "We made a mistake there. I think the song loses something in translation and even sounds silly." In another interview that month the band including Nena herself were quoted as being "not completely satisfied" with the English version since it was "too blatant" for a group not wishing to be seen as a protest band. Despite having given in excess of 500 concerts over a period of more than 30 years, Nena has never sung "99 Red Balloons" live, even at her rare concerts in England, always performing the German version instead. There have been two re-recordings of the original German version of the song that have been released by Nena: a modern version in 2002, which was included on Nena feat. Nena (2002), and a retro version in 2009, which included some verses in French. Live recordings of the song are included on all six of Nena's live albums, dating from 1995 to 2016. A special edit that combined the English and German versions of the song was played on American Top 40 with Casey Kasem for the week of 24 March 1984 (Program #814-12). Reception American and Australian audiences preferred the original German version, which became a very successful non-English-language song, topping charts in both countries, reaching 1}} on the Cash Box chart, Kent Music Report, and 2}} on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, behind "Jump" by Van Halen. It was certified Gold by the RIAA. The later-released English translation, "99 Red Balloons", topped the charts in the UK, Canada and Ireland. VH1 Classic, an American cable television station, ran a charity event for Hurricane Katrina relief in 2006. Viewers who made donations were allowed to choose which music videos the station would play. One viewer donated $35,000 for the right to program an entire hour and requested continuous play of "99 Luftballons" and "99 Red Balloons" videos. The station broadcast the videos as requested from 2:00 to 3:00 pm EST on 26 March 2006. In his 2010 book Music: What Happened?, critic and musician Scott Miller declared that the song possesses "one of the best hooks of the eighties" and listed it among his top song picks for 1984. Nonetheless, he cautioned: "It must be admitted that this song suffers from an embarrassingly out-of-place disco funk interlude, and the word kriegsminister." Music video The promotional video, which was originally made for the Dutch music programme TopPop and broadcast on 13 March 1983, was shot in a Dutch military training camp, the band performing the song on a stage in front of a backdrop of fires and explosions provided by the Dutch Army. Towards the end of the video, the band are seen taking cover and abandoning the stage, which was unplanned and genuine since they believed the explosive blasts were getting out of control. In 2006, the video was used for a $200,000 fundraising campaign for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. VH1 Classic played the English and German versions for an hour straight as part of Mercy Corps' campaign. Chart positions German version Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications and sales |salesamount=666,500|salesref= }} English version Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications and sales 2002 re-release See also * Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet early-warning system operator who in 1983 disregarded a false nuclear attack alarm (from shining clouds, rather than balloons) and may have prevented a nuclear war. * List of anti-war songs * Lists of number-one singles (Austria) * List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s * List of number-one singles of 1984 (Canada) * [[List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1984|List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1984]] * List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1983 * List of European number-one hits of 1983 * List of number-one hits of 1983 (Germany) * List of number-one singles of 1984 (Ireland) * List of number-one singles from the 1980s (New Zealand) * List of number-one singles and albums in Sweden * List of number-one singles of the 1980s (Switzerland) * List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1980s References External links * * Category:1983 songs Category:1983 singles Category:1984 singles Category:Nena (band) songs Category:Goldfinger (band) songs Category:Songs written by Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen Category:Columbia Records singles Category:Epic Records singles Category:Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Category:Single Top 100 number-one singles Category:European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Category:Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Number-one singles in Australia Category:Number-one singles in Austria Category:Number-one singles in Germany Category:Number-one singles in New Zealand Category:Number-one singles in Sweden Category:Number-one singles in Switzerland Category:Oricon International Singles Chart number-one singles Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Category:German-language songs Category:Anti-war songs Category:Protest songs Category:Songs about aviation Category:Songs about nuclear war and weapons Category:Songs about the military Category:Balloons (entertainment) Category:Cold War in popular culture